Now since the decision has been made by the Malaysian government to proceed with the Single Wholesale Network (“SWN”) model for 5G, Celcom Axiata Berhad, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Maxis Berhad, and U Mobile Sdn Bhd also referred to as the MNO’s have issued an official statement expressing their interest to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (K-KOMM) offer.
While it is understood that the government has offered the MNO’s 70% stake in DNB as means to move forward with the nation 5G initiative, as any deal goes the devil is always in the details. No information has been shared on how the equity will be distributed or put for sale and the price tag on the shares are also sketchy.
The MNO’s in their statement had said that they would like to discuss and seek input from the Government on the details of the proposed equity stake offer and are keen to collaborate with MoF/K-KOMM on the approach that is typical of any major Mergers and Acquisitions process. What is seems is that they are calling for the whole process to be professional and be handled like any private M&A process would be handled.
The telcos have also recommended setting up project teams to align on processes such as due diligence, transaction timelines, and other administrative matters.
All parties have until June 2022 to finalise the process and move ahead with the implementation.
